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Calories

posted Sep 29, 2019, 3:37 PM by Difference Personal Training

CALORIES

A calorie can be described as a unit of energy. In nutritional sense, all
foods, whether they are considered fats, protein or carbohydrates or sugars,
they are all important sources of calories, and we need them to live and to
function on a daily basis. Our brain, our muscles, our cells at a molecular level
require energy to function.

When we eat food we are bombarded with how many kilojoules or how many
kcal or how many calories it contains, this is all potential energy that it
contains. So let’s break it down a little bit:

Carbohydrates = 1 gram contains 16.37 kJ

Protein = 1 gram contains 16.37 kJ

Fat= 1 gram contains 37.7 kJ

So let’s say you have a protein powder and it states that it is 30 grams
per serving :

30 g x 16.37 kJ = 491 kJ

Or if you have a pasta and you have weight your fettucine and it is 80
grams :

80 g x 16.37 = 1309.6 kJ

Lastly if you decide to have some avocado with your meal, and it weights 15
grams:

15 g x 37.7 kJ = 565 kJ

So you may be wondering how many calories you should be having a day,
this is where it gets interesting and there are many different factors that
have to be taken into account:

Metabolism– Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is defined as the number of calories
your body burns in the process of normal function, such as respiration,
digestion, temperature regulation etc. Depending on how quick or how slow your
metabolism is, will also be a factor in the amount of calories eaten that day

Activity
Level – The more
active you are throughout the day/night, the more calories you will burn, and
you may need to consume more calories to maintain energy levels. An inactive
person will not require as many calories because they will not burn them

Weight
– an individual’s weight impacts
on caloric intake, the larger your body mass, the more calories are needed to perform
normal bodily functions. A smaller person with lower weight and body mass, will
not need as many calories to perform these functions.

Lean Body
Mass – The higher your lean body mass
is, the higher your BMR will be, this is because the more muscle you have, the
more calories you burn at rest. Someone with a high LBM may require more
calories than someone with low LBM because they burn a considerable amount performing
regular bodily functions.

Age– Metabolism tends to slow down with age, which
may need to re-evaluate the amount of calories being consumed

Gender – Studies have shown that men
tend to have a higher caloric intake than woman. This can be put down body composition,
males bodies tend to have a larger muscle mass than females, which require more
calories to maintain.